Re: Xenophon, The Frugal Estate Manager, Chapter 2
Posted: December 27th, 2014, 12:29 am
Xenophon, Estate manager, Chapter 2, Section 11 wrote:οὔκουν μέμνησαι ἀρτίως ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ὅτε οὐδ᾽ ἀναγρύζειν μοι ἐξουσίαν ἐποίησας, λέγων ὅτι τῷ μὴ ἐπισταμένῳ ἵπποις χρῆσθαι οὐκ εἴη χρήματα οἱ ἵπποι οὐδὲ ἡ γῆ οὐδὲ τὰ πρόβατα οὐδὲ ἀργύριον οὐδὲ ἄλλο οὐδὲ ἓν ὅτῳ τις μὴ ἐπίσταιτο χρῆσθαι; εἰσὶ μὲν οὖν αἱ πρόσοδοι ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων: ἐμὲ δὲ πῶς τινὶ τούτων οἴει ἂν ἐπιστηθῆναι χρῆσθαι, ᾧ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐδὲν πώποτ᾽ ἐγένετο τούτων;
Wes Wood wrote:the authority (maybe it would be better English to say, "right" (properly δικαίωμα) or "opportunity" (properly καιρός or εὐκαιρία)) to (even) grunt [I like this better than what I had - Ahhh, so it seems my lackadaisical attitude towards posting text and hints during the silly season has left the tortoise an opportunity to get out in front ], saying that ("that" is not wrong, but ambiguous, "when you were saying things like") to the one who did not know how to use them horses are not property and neither are land, sheep, or anything else to the one who does not how to use them? Indeed profits are in fact derived from things like these: but how do you imagine that I would know how to use any of them, who has never had one of these things in my possession?
Xenophon, Estate manager, Chapter 2, Section 11 wrote:ᾧ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὐδὲν πώποτ᾽ ἐγένετο τούτων;
That was how I initially wanted to take it too, but I couldn't remember a construction with ἐγένετο and the accusative "in no wise have rulership over those things" somehow imagined to be carried forward from the previous construction, and accusative of respect didn't really fit, but then . . . there is always the lexicon. τὴν ἀρχὴν is something like, "didn't even get out of the starter's gate", "didn't get off the starting blocks", my equivalents are horse racing and sprinting, but I don't currently have any clue which part of life the Greek originated in.Wes Wood wrote:You saved me from rendering the last section as: "to whom the rule of these things never happened".